The new Hydrangea cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventors, Claudie Lambert and Helene Bertrand, in France. The objective of the breeding program was to identify new Hydrangea varieties with unique qualities for ornamental purposes. The crossing resulting in the new variety conducted by the inventors at a research nursery in Angers, France during 2007. Selection of the new variety was made during 2010.
The seed parent is an unpatented, unnamed proprietary variety Hydrangea scandens. The pollen parent is an unpatented, unnamed proprietary variety Hydrangea hybrid.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘FRENCH BOLERO’ by softwood cuttings was first performed during the Summer of 2017 at a commercial greenhouse in Brain sur l'Authion, France. Subsequent propagation has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type in two successive generations.